St. Paul daily globe., 1887-11-11

U6dulN InISSlIc uScu upUll bLlS OCCdoIoii'
The Case of Gordon,
the slave trader, who was hanged early
in the sixties, in the tOmbS in New
York city, was recalled to mind. Some
of his friends, either emissarIes from
the rich Boston merchants who owned
the slave ships and profited by the slave
trade which Gordon carried on, and for
whose crime he was confessedly made
the scapegOat, or possibly his devoted
little wife. who subsequently opened a
little candy store in Williamsburgh, and
married her chief clerk, gave to him
some poison, which he took shortly after
midnight of the day before that fixed for
his execution. He was found early III
the morning writhing in what appeared
to be his death agony. DR.. HOdgman.
the tombS physician, applied stomach
pump most successfully, but it was a
grave question as to whether the man
would rally sufficiently to warrant his
execution. Robert Murray was marshal
of the district, and very anxious mar
shal he was at that particular Juncture.
Large quantities of whisky were poured
down the little mans throat, and
like an anatomical shred, or a
baby MariOnette he was walked up and
down, and up and down, by his attend
ants, who hoped against hope that he
might be kept up until the final moment.
Drunk as any lord, when the hour came
he was given a great glass of whisky
and half carried, half dragged, he was
taken, preceded by the priest and par
son, followed by the guard and attend
ants to the enclosure of the tOmbs,
where the boys prison now stands, and
in less time than it takes to say Jack
Robinson, limp, listlesS and saturated
with the essence of John BarleycOrn, he
was chOked to death, and his beSOtted
soul presented in that condition in the
court of the Most High. Had he been
left alone, had the stomach pump not
done its work he would have died. They
saved HIM that he might die upon the
scaffold. Sach has been the unrewarded
labor of the surgeons here to-day. In
spite of his wonderful vitality and all
the care of expert surgeons Lingg
fingered only until O'Clock,
Then Passed Away.
Never was the enterprise of Chicago
newspapers more admirably illustrated
than on this occasion. In less than
twenty minutes thereafter the Chicago
News had an extra upon the street.
Very soon followed by extras from the
Herald and the Mail. Subsequent eX-
tras issued by the Daily News, are a
study i'm sensatIOnalism. Five columns,
each marked extra, stare at one, headed
respectively, Suicide" Horror" rs
Dying" May Live" "Oglesby." The
first announced that Lingg, who had
shot himself in the Jail, had died in
stantly, having killed himself with
bomb. The next showed that Lingg
was fatally wounded, was unconscious
and dying; the next that he was still
living. but could not live many hours:
the next that there was a possibility of
his recovery, and that in that event the
governor must issue stay OF execution.
Precisely how many scores of thousands
of these News, Herald, and Mail extras
were sold, it would be impossible TO es-
innate, but drive through the streets
showed very clearly the temper and
condition of the public mind.
All business was suspended. Strangers
told each other the news and discussed
the situation. Walters informed guests
in the hotels, and guests who never met
before talked excitedly and with un-
feigned interest to each Othera bout the
extraordinary development. Groups of
men gathered at the corners, others in
the vacant lots fronting on the lake.
Clerks chatted with customers, drivers
talked with their patrons, canyaSSed
the probabilities, and every man,
woman and child in the vast ampli-
tudinOuS aggregation of humanity
knew that the elimination was ap-
preaching, and that as one of the con-
demned had carried out his threat, it
was not too much to expect that others
or their friends would follow soon.
Now, do not run away with the idea
that Chicago is in any tumult, nor that
there is any wild bOisterousness on the
streets, or that there is any timidity on
the part of the authorities. There is
A Universal Feeling
that Gov. Oglesby is not competent to
fill the bill. / have heard in newspaper
sanctumS, in lawyers offices, in minis
ters' studies, at the dining tables of hO-
tells, in the cafes, the barrooms, the thea
tiers and on the streets of the city, that
it was not only all outrage towards the
condemned themselves but that it was
a most infelicitOus exhibition of timidity
and almost cowardice on the part of the
governor which was disgrace to the
state, and which threatened possible
disaster to the peace and comfort and
well being of this city infinitely more
than any of the threats which, until the
meeting of May, 1856, were bombastic
in the extreme of all the anarchists COM
bined. 1t is regarded as a most
extraordinary feature of the case
that the governor should not have
signed the death warrant week ago or
have intimated clearly his purpose of
communication of the sentences of some
and the carrying out of the sentences of
others. Adverse criticism is heard
everywhere upon his course of yester-
day. Why he should have permitted
the women and children to go and make
their dramatic although most natural
appeal to him in person, no person can
understand. He is all old man, good
old man, one who heretofore has dealt
with public questions hot only with
honesty but Sturdily and with pur-
purpose along the line of public veal,
and therefore men hesitate to criticize
him harShly now, but cannot refrain
from expressing their surprise and in
very many cases their indignation at
his hesitating and vacillating course.
Among others who heard the news of
the suicide was
A Lunatic.
by the name of Anderson. He was
taken from his home to the police station